Joe Miller, sore loser, sues

Alaska’s Republican Senate nominee Joe Miller is filing a new suit in state court challenging his write-in reelection of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, after a federal court would not take the case.

The state cannot certify the election until Miller’s case is heard by state courts, leaving the prospect that a single senator will represent Alaska when the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3.

Minnesota spent six months in 2009 with one Senator, as former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman mounted a lengthy court challenge trying to reverse his defeat at the hands of Democrat Al Franken.

Murkowski is the first write-in candidate to prevail in a Senate race in 56 years. The last person to do it was South Carolina segregationist Strom Thurmond, who served in Congress’ upper chamber until he was 100 years old.

The Alaska Division of Elections conducted a hand count of write-in votes, with Miller’s representatives challenging fewer than 10 percent.

The Division on Elections disallowed most of the challenges – some challenged ballots had Murkowski’s name spelled correctly – and concluded that Murkowski won the election by 10,352 votes.

Even if all of Miller’s challenges had been upheld, Murkowski would have emerged the winner by 2,195 votes.

Miller, his Tea Party supporters, and ultraconservative South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint have pressed forward on the legal front.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in Fairbanks Superior Court, Miller charges that the Division on Elections, in words of the Anchorage Daily News, “improperly counted too many write-in votes for the apparent winner . . . and failed to count legitimate votes for him.”

Miller is alleging that in several precincts, which he does not name, voters took ballots even if they did not produce identification and were not familiar to election officials. And he says “in several precincts” the same person or persons wrote Murkowski’s name on multiple ballots.

The Miller campaign made similar allegations during the Division of Elections vote count, but did not produce supporting evidence.

Miller, though a champion of states rights, originally filed suit in U.S. District Court in
Anchorage, charging that votes were being improperly counted. State officials have said they were governed by “voter intent” in deciding whether to count Murkowski write-in votes.

U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline told Miller to take his suit to federal court. But Beistline said he would prohibit certification until state courts hear the case.

The Murkowski campaign said it would intervene in the case.

“In order to ensure that the intent of voters is fully honored and that every Alaskan’s vote is protected, the Murkowski campaign will be intervening in Mr. Miller’s baseless litigation,” said Kevin Sweeney, the senator’s campaign manager.